Who is my financial planner working for?

So, there’s been some drama in the media this week about the Big5Banks….it’s getting intense.

Employees at the Big5 have spoken out against pressure to sell products to customers without their consent. The ethical implications of this do not look good for the banks.

“He claims his manager once told him not to tell clients who wanted to invest more than $40,000 that the markets were down, because putting their money into GICs wouldn’t earn the branch as much sales revenue.He said she also told him to attach high interest rates on mortgages and lines of credit and to not tell clients those interest rates are negotiable.”

Eeeeep! I’m sure a lot of Canadians will be worried whether they can trust their financial institutions after this. When you have a financial institution that sells products like bank accounts, debt, investments and insurance, it’s hard to know where the line is between good advice and pure sales tactics.

This is exactly why getting unbiased financial advice from a fee-only financial planner, like we are at New School, is essential.

We don’t need to sell any product to you whatsoever since we have no skin in the game! We do not sell product and therefore the advice you get is unbiased.

Instead, we make money from receiving an hourly or flat fee from you. The only time we make more money off of you is if you come back, or tell your friends

This is important because you may have conflicting financial goals like pay down mortgage, start saving for house, renos, debt repayment or retirement. Whatever you need to do, a fee-only financial planner doesn’t make more or less money off of you depending on where your money goes. So, you can trust that the advice is in your best interest and unbiased.

This is a great time to ask yourself, who is my financial planner working for? Who pay his or her salary? How are they paid? Is the advice unbiased? Get in the know! We all work hard for the money.

Read here for an in-depth explanation a fee-only financial advisor, along with commission-based financial planners and fee-based financial planners.